The interior design trends of 2022 included a renaissance of colorful decorating, a preference for sustainable materials, and incorporating nature throughout the home. They reflected the continued evolution of our lifestyles in recent years and showed an overall desire for our homes to be somewhere we can relax, decompress, and focus on our wellbeing.

With 2023 just around the corner, expect to see the latest design trends continue that trajectory of creating a home that’s vibrant yet soothing.

5 Interior Design Trends for 2023

1. Butler’s Pantries

There’s something endlessly fascinating about features throughout a home that tie spaces together and create harmony. A butler’s pantry is the perfect resource for homeowners who feel their kitchens are always running at capacity. Typically located adjacent to the kitchen or dining room, modern butler’s pantries are often concealed behind cabinets or pocket doors. An economical solution for food and kitchen item storage, they allow you to prep meals outside the kitchen, gather silverware, and prepare to set the table. Kitchens are the heart of the home, and this space has taken on even more significance in recent years. It’s no wonder these special home features are on the rise.

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2. Colorful Kitchens

Color in the kitchen is back in style! The neutral-toned backdrop of farmhouse-style interiors that leapt to the forefront of home design in recent years is still popular, but homeowners can expect to see more bold colors in 2023. The kitchen island, cabinets, and backsplash are three target areas for adding color to your kitchen. These large surface areas are tailor-made for color splashes to lead the eye throughout the room. Experiment with complimentary tile designs, two-toned cabinets, and dark-stained wood to create a kitchen atmosphere that feels anything but bland.

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3. Organic Materials and Décor

In some ways, the design trends that defined 2022 will continue into next year. One such trend that will ring true in 2023 is a desire to fill the home with organic materials. Indoor plants will continue to be a popular decorative item throughout the home, both for their health benefits and their ability to mix and match with any décor style. In the living room, natural materials like stone, wood, and organic fabrics will help tie a home’s organic aesthetic together. And in the kitchen, stone and marble countertops add an earthy touch.

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4. Earth Tones

While bold colors are making their return to the kitchen, earth tones will help to balance out homeowners’ interior design palettes next year. Many design leaders’ color of the year selections for 2023 are in, all showcasing unconventional takes on earthy colors. Whether it’s beige, magenta, cream, or forest green, you can use these shades throughout your home to create balance and ground your bolder color choices elsewhere. Looking to swap out your grey couch? Have you always wanted to paint your gallery wall something other than off-white? Now is the time!

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5. Intentional Spaces

Homeowners have made significant adjustments to their lifestyles in recent years. For many, that’s meant spending time on their hobbies, exercising, and working on passion projects at home, whereas previously they may have gone elsewhere. After a couple years of making do with whatever space was available, moving forward, we’ll see a more intentional approach to creating space at home for those activities. Whether it’s building out a home gym, setting up your home office, craft room, art studio, yoga sanctuary, etc., having a dedicated area allows for privacy and focus while doing the things you love.

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The most misleading stat about the housing market is increase in inventory. 

The number of properties for sale is up significantly compared to last year.  In most locations along the Front Range, inventory has doubled.

This is obviously great news for buyers because they now have more choice.

This is obviously meaningful for sellers because they now have more competition.

But, it does not mean there is a glut of inventory.  It does not mean that we are now, all of a sudden, over-supplied.

Quite the contrary.  The market is still undersupplied.  There would need to be at least double the amount of homes for sale for Front Range real estate to begin to be balanced.

The increase in inventory, being so large, gets a lot of attention in the media and can sometimes be taken the wrong way.

Yes, inventory has doubled.  But, it has doubled compared to all time lows.

Freddie Mac reports that Nationally, the market is undersupplied by 3.8 million housing units.

So, the increase in homes for sale is a good thing for the market and is nothing like a glut of inventory.

The math of a home sale is relatively straightforward. Sellers list their home at a certain price, a buyer makes an offer, and eventually the two parties reach a final, agreed-upon price. However, between these two points in the selling process, there are several other figures that go into to setting a home’s value that you should be aware of. Your real estate agent will be your best resource in interpreting the different values associated with your home and what they mean as you prepare to sell.

Understanding the Value of Your Home

Listed Price (Asking Price)

Also known as an asking price, the listing price of a home is the price at which a seller lists their property when it goes on the market. The listing price is a gross price, meaning the costs associated with selling the home are not included. A real estate agent’s Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) will accurately set your home’s listing price, accounting for the various factors that influence home prices including location, condition, seasonality, local market conditions, and more.

The listing price is a starting point for negotiations with buyers. You may receive an offer that matches your asking price, but it’s common for buyers to make offers at other price points. You can either accept, reject, or make a counteroffer in response until you and the buyer reach an agreement.

Whether you’re selling in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market may determine you and your agent’s approach to the listing price of your home. There may be certain pricing tactics you can employ to either drive buyer attention or increase competition, but if your home’s listing price strays too far from its market value (see below), it could stay on the market for longer than you expected.

Market Value

As a seller, you’re interested in what buyers are willing to pay for your home. By taking into account a home’s condition, size, curb appeal, and features, as well as local market conditions and what comparable homes are selling for, a home’s market value reflects the price buyers will pay for a property.

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Appraised Value

A home’s appraised value is determined by a professional appraiser to ensure that the lender is loaning the correct amount of money for the home. Appraisers assess the home’s layout and features, square footage, gross living area (GLA), overall condition inside and out, home updates and remodels, and more. If the appraised value comes in too low or too high, the buyer and seller must renegotiate for the deal to go through. In competitive markets, buyers may include an appraisal gap guarantee in their offer, which states that the buyer will cover the difference between the price of the home and the appraised value.

Sale Price (Purchase Price)

Also known as the purchase price, your home’s sale price is what it ultimately ends up selling for. Once you and the buyer have reached an agreement on the terms of the transaction, the buyer will have the home inspected and final negotiations may occur based on the findings of the inspection. Familiarize yourself with the Common Real Estate Contingencies buyers may include in their offer and what they mean when selling your home.

Net Proceeds

So, how much do you actually make on the sale of your home? After subtracting the total costs of selling from your home’s sale price, you’ll arrive at your net proceeds. This is the amount you walk away with from the transaction.

Assessed Value

Your agent’s CMA is a reliable method of determining your home’s value for its eventual sale, but its assessed value is used for taxation purposes. Employed by local municipal or county entities, an assessor will conduct a review of your property to determine its assessed value. The assessor’s findings are passed to local tax officials, who use that number to calculate the home’s property taxes.

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Lumber prices are becoming more normal again.

After soaring this Spring to record levels, they have lowered back to near pre-pandemic levels.

The current price for 1000 board feet of lumber is $577.  This is 62% below the price this past May when it reached an all-time high of $1,515.

In the years leading up to the pandemic, prices tended to be between $350 and $500.

While this is great news for consumers and home builders, the prices aren’t drastically lower yet in the lumber aisle at your local bib-box hardware store.

This is because many retailers are still selling through their inventory of lumber which they purchased at higher prices.

However, for the long term, home buyers will benefit from the more normal lumber prices that now exist in the market.